After a long holiday season, I'm back to putting time into the Moonray. The first phase of construction is actually building the vehicle in 1:3 scale. That will allow me to work out the dimensions and design problems relatively easily. There aren't any ready-made parts I can use in this scale, like there would be if I were modeling much smaller in a scale where plastic cars and motorcycle kits were available. Almost everything has to be made from scratch. My 1:3 model will be about 4 feet long, though, so it isn't exactly fine detail work...
I would very much like to find wheels for the model that don't require much work. In my collection of such things I have a wheel I got from American Science and Surplus years ago (I know, don't ask...) that's just about right for the rear wheel. I also had a pair of fronts salvaged from my kids' stroller that were just right for the wheel/tire package I thought I was going to use, but then I scored a uniquely cool pair of front wheels from a Suzuki quad drag racer. They are ultra-rare custom made Douglas 10" x 4" wheels (two inches narrower than stock) with DOT-approved street legal scooter tires already mounted on them. That set is 16 1/2" tall, so I now need to find 5 1/2" wheels to model them accurately on my 1:3 scale Moonray.
I'm currently modeling replicas of the suspension parts and shocks that I have in 1:3 scale. When that's done, I'll work on creating the custom chassis to mount all those parts. Then I'll build the body shell, probably out of cardboard or coroplast, but maybe out of foam. I haven't decided how well to finish the model, but for now just getting the dimensions and packaging right is the goal.
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